Riley and Avery

Avery kept saying "Mommy, take a picture!" during lessons, so I got a ton of her. Riley was playing the look-away game whenever she saw the camera







Both girls are getting more accustomed to going underwater. Avery still puts up a fight, but her teacher convinces her and she does it. Riley LOVES going underwater! She also takes a bath every day and practices in the tub. By "bath" I mean she just plays in the water. In this dry climate I don't dare actually wash my children every day. Riley still likes to be in control of when she goes under. She'll do it dozens of times during lessons, but does not like jumping into the water and going under.

Rudi wants Riley to go to a summer camp this summer. I mean, I'm okay with it, but don't know how much fighting and anxiety is worth a week of fun. They have a full-day week-long summer camp at the zoo that I think Riley would enjoy. I mean, don't you think Riley would love spending a week at the zoo, getting behind-the-scenes looks at zoo operations? It's not too expensive. It would be for a week in the mid-to-late part of June.

I am working on getting our garden box ready. It's 5 x 3 x 1.5 feet. The lumber was really inexpensive, and then I get to figuring out how to buy 18 cubic feet of dirt that won't break the bank. I broke our rule and went to Walmart (don't tell Rudi!) When I come home with 19 bags of dirt, Rudi is all negative about the whole thing, saying that I'm nuts to do this and look how much dirt this is, etc. Then I take the whole family to Good Earth Garden Center, and organic nursery where one of my playgroup mamas works, and his whole attitude changed. He was amazed by how healthy all the plants were and was like a kid in a candy store. He's all sorts of excited now. The girls picked out more flowers than I would have liked, but I figure that we have enough containers for flowers and we'll use the box for veggies.

Here's what we got: (click for pictures)
1. Painted Daisy
2. Money Plant (this one's really cool and will be an indoor container plant, as recommended for our climate)
3. Calendula
4. Purple Haze Carrots (because who wants carrots that look like the ones in the supermarket? Plus, they're supposed to be delicious)
5. Spacemaster Cucumbers
6. Hearts of Gold Cantaloupe (supposed to be small, about 6", so doable in our garden!)
7. Cherry Belle Radishes
8. Strawberries (from plant, not seeds) Tired of looking for pictures, and who doesn't know what a strawberry looks like?
9. we are waiting for tomato plants to be ready at the nursery and...
10. We forgot greenbeans (Riley's request) so have to go back for that

Luckily, this organic garden center was the same price as non-organic places. I mean, their prices were better then anywhere I've looked so far. Sweet. And since I cut corners on the dirt, we got some high-quality plant food at the garden center too. Rudi is all about supplementation, whether it be vitamins for humans or plant food for plants. :)

The strange thing is, we're probably not going to get to eat much of these veggies ourselves. I chose radishes because they can be harvested before we go to MD. The carrots will be ready in early fall, so if they grow at all, we'll get some of those. The cukes will likely be harvestable while we're away, as will the cantaloupe. Oh well. Whoever will be watching the guinea pigs can have come veggies, I suppose, and save those that are ready towards the end of our vacation for us. I don't know what the three berry bushes will give this year, as this is only their second year. We got one berry from each last year, so any improvement would be welcomed.

Oh, so when I returned our rabbits to the rescue, I left an itinerary about them, what they like to eat, what treats they like, their personalities, their out-of-cage routines, etc. and my phone number in case a potential owner had questions. Once a week an adoption fair is held at PetSmart which the foster owner drops them off for for the day. A woman saw the rabbits and calls me up to ask if they can be separated. I told her that they were litter-mates and are really close, and it is strongly preferred that they stay together. She then said that she already has a male-female pair and another male that needs a partner. I'm baffled and I ask if the male is neutered and she said that she breeds rabbits. I totally freak out, because she sounded so nice, and I was scared that she wouldn't disclose her breeder status on an application. I shot out an email to the foster owner, giving the woman's cell phone number (I should have gotten her name, but didn't) and told the foster that a breeder was interested and to please watch out for that phone number on an application. She was very appreciative and said that she would not allow an application to go through with that phone number. Then she emailed me later that day saying that the rabbits had been adopted by a nice young couple from Aurora who have owned rabbits before, and that the couple has already made a vet appointment for a check-up and spay. I'm confident that this is not the breeder because she had a Colorado Springs phone number. So, I'm happy that Twinkles and Sprinkles got a great new home!

Geez, that's a long one! I'm done...